[Gocamino] Numbers of pilgrims in the Medieval Era

[Eldor Pederson]

As yet I have not accumulated enough evidence to come to any firm conclusions, but it would appear most unlikely that 500,000 per year walked to Santiago as some sources on the medieval pilgrimage report. The immense difficulty of feeding that many extra people in an area of rigorous climate and limited agricultural productivity makes the large numbers suspect. Given the small agricultural surplus per farm worker during the medieval era, even in the most productive regions of western Europe, neither that many pilgrims could be spared from work at any given time nor could northern Spain provide them with the amount of food required to make the long and arduous walk. The vast majority of food consumed in the medieval era was produced within a few kilometers of consumption, and in inland areas like the zone much of the Camino Frances traverses, it was nearly impossible to move large quantities of food more than short distances. 

It is possible, especially during the holy years in particular, that very large numbers walked, but I doubt it ever reached a half million (or more than a million as some sources claim). Preliterate and semiliterate societies frequently have counting systems of the "one, two, three, some, and many" variety. When the numbers become uncountable, a large sounding number is used to convey the fact that the numbers are beyond counting. I strongly suspect this is the source of the count cited by Michener.

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robert Spenger<mailto:rspenger at earthlink.net> 
  To: <Gocamino at oakapple.net> <Gocamino at oakapple.net><mailto:Gocamino at oakapple.net>%20<Gocamino at oakapple.net>> 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:35 AM
  Subject: Re: [Gocamino] on transformations


  Where does the "500,000 per year" come from? I find it quoted in 
  Michener's "Iberia." Here is the quote from page 721:

  > We can speak with accuracy of this vast movement of people–the 
  > incredible number of more than half a million moved along the road 
  > each year–because in 1130 what is generally held to be the world's 
  > first travel guide was written, describing the glories and hardships 
  > of this route. It was written at the request of the Church , which 
  > hoped thereby to encourage pilgrimages, by a French priest, Aymery de 
  > Picaud, who lived along one of the pilgrim routes and set the pattern 
  > for future travel writers: things near at home he praised, those 
  > further away he questioned,  while those distant he condemned.